It was only 6:30 p.m. and already dusk was pushing into darkness. There was a creepy silence in the air and my imagination was running wild. I didn’t like walking home alone in the evenings and I was easily spooked! (That’s what happens to the mind of a little sister when terrorized by her older brother.) I was the typical teenager in believing that I could take care of myself, but in reality, I was afraid of my own shadow.
A flickering street light caught my attention and I noticed several bats flying near the light post. Great, I thought, now I had vampires to worry about! Then an old pickup truck came from around the corner and clanged all the way down the street. My heart was pounding through my chest as the truck passed by and revved on down the road.
The yards were filled with Halloween decorations. There was a silhouette of a dummy hanging from the end of a rope in someone's tree and it terrified me! What kind of neighbors are these, I wondered, I'll never get that image out of my head! A dog started howling in the distance and caused my nerves to spark! I immediately imagined that there was a vicious creature afoot and it had alarmed the canine (not realizing that it was probably barking at me)!
Suddenly, something came sailing through the air and landed ten feet away from my path. I was so frightened that I felt my socks roll up and down, until I saw the paper boy speed past on his bicycle. I'm sure it was one of his newspapers that had zipped past my nose and landed in the yard nearby.
I could see my house now and it too was pitch black. Shish, someone could have left a light on, I thought! I ran inside, locked the door behind me and turned on every light in the house. There was an arrogant sense of power in knowing that I’d survived the walk home and I was certain that I had locked the boogieman out.
I opened the door to the closet, attempting to hang up my coat when my brother came lunging out from within. “Raaaaaaaarrrrr,” he screamed! I fell backward onto the floor. I was so frightened that even my screams lacked human characteristics. Then came the anger and when I tried to talk, it was as if I was speaking in tongues... I can still hear his laughter echoing in my head.
It has been over 40 years since this experience and I still grimace when I come home to a dark house! My brother and I eventually became best friends. We grew up to be responsible individuals, but little did I know that I would have four boys who inherited the same tendencies for scare tactics (must be a guy thing). My boys were always hiding in the dryer, jumping out of closets, lurking around the corners and popping out from behind trees. They have grabbed my feet from underneath the bed, froze spiders in the freezer and stuffed grasshoppers in the mailbox. On one occasion I found fake bloody fingers in the silverware drawer. It just "ghosts to show you" that some family traditions never change. (A special thanks to my brother Denny and my sons Brian, Jared, David and Gabriel for making this blog possible...)By Linda Sumner Urza, One fine day.
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